New York State Teachers Retirement System Decreases Stock Holdings in Bloomin’ Brands, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLMN)

New York State Teachers Retirement System trimmed its position in Bloomin’ Brands, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLMN) by 0.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 93,675 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 610 shares during the quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System owned 0.11% of Bloomin’ Brands worth $2,637,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in BLMN. Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its stake in shares of Bloomin’ Brands by 171.3% in the first quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 5,626,195 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $123,439,000 after buying an additional 3,552,591 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. increased its position in Bloomin’ Brands by 13.0% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 15,152,121 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $332,436,000 after purchasing an additional 1,747,152 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Bloomin’ Brands during the 4th quarter valued at $16,198,000. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Bloomin’ Brands during the 4th quarter valued at $13,494,000. Finally, Millennium Management LLC increased its position in Bloomin’ Brands by 2,002.9% during the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 612,666 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $12,327,000 after purchasing an additional 583,532 shares during the period.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on BLMN shares. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Bloomin’ Brands from $25.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of Bloomin’ Brands from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $26.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, January 23rd. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Bloomin’ Brands from $27.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 26th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Bloomin’ Brands from $31.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 26th. Finally, Raymond James boosted their target price on shares of Bloomin’ Brands from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 3rd. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $27.90.

Bloomin’ Brands Stock Performance

Shares of Bloomin’ Brands stock opened at $26.79 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $2.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.59 and a beta of 2.00. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $27.73 and its 200 day moving average is $25.89. Bloomin’ Brands, Inc. has a 1 year low of $22.03 and a 1 year high of $30.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.89, a current ratio of 0.34 and a quick ratio of 0.27.

Bloomin’ Brands (NASDAQ:BLMN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 23rd. The restaurant operator reported $0.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $1.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.20 billion. Bloomin’ Brands had a net margin of 5.30% and a return on equity of 73.67%. Bloomin’ Brands’s revenue was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.68 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Bloomin’ Brands, Inc. will post 2.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bloomin’ Brands Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 20th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 6th were paid a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 5th. Bloomin’ Brands’s payout ratio is 37.94%.

Bloomin’ Brands Profile

Bloomin' Brands, Inc, through its subsidiaries, owns and operates casual, upscale casual, and fine dining restaurants in the United States and internationally. The company operates through two segments, U.S. and International. Its restaurant portfolio has four concepts, including Outback Steakhouse, a casual steakhouse restaurant; Carrabba's Italian Grill, a casual Italian restaurant; Bonefish Grill; and Fleming's Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar, a contemporary steakhouse.